Wednesday, June 08, 2005

150 Identifiable Flavours

Gee, I’m not sure that I’m very good at this blog thing.

I’m leaving Hungary in less than a week. That kind of freaks me out. I wish that I had gone to the Hungarian Plain and seen the Hungarian cowboys. Apparently they can ride 9 horses at the same time (well, sort of). I’ve only seen them do 4 here in the city. That’s why you shouldn’t just rely on the city to show you everything you need to see, sometimes you have to actually leave it.

Last week, while I was waiting in a 3 million-mile-long line for train tickets, a homeless woman came by asking for money. The person behind me yelled at her, and the person in front of me turned his back on her. So I decided to give her some money, because she was asking politely, and it looked like she could use it. I thought maybe she’d appreciate it. 20 minutes later when I had finally got my tickets, I met Katie across the room. The same lady came up to me and asked for money. I tried to tell her that I’d already given her some. She called me some bad names in Hungarian and left.

This last weekend we all went to a small town in Northeastern Hungary, near the Ukrainian border. It was wonderful to get out of the city, and to see some hills and greenery! This area of Hungary is famous for its special Tokaji wine. Because of it’s volcanic soil and the micro-climate there, the grapes stay on the vines longer and begin to rot/ferment right there on the vine… but in a good way. To be honest, I don’t understand all the details about wine that I was told that weekend. But the wine’s good, and different tasting. We went into a 500 year old wine cellar and wandered around the maze-like corridors. At the end was a wine-tasting room. We tried 5 special wines. 2 had won international awards. One of them had “150 identifiable flavours” I didn’t taste that many, but maybe with a second try…

Monday, April 18, 2005

Now I have one too!

17 April 2005
Sunday in Budapest. I’ve decided today to begin my own Blog. The idea scared me for a long time, but I think I’ve finally realized that it’s not really that big of a deal. My friend Laura reminded me that with all those blogs out there, the only people who’ll read mine are those who care (probably). So here I am, writing my first entry. What should I say? Just pick up my life where it is now and try to express myself for today? Hmm, I’ll try.

Spring in Budapest. The spring before I leave. It seems that no matter how long you live in a foreign place, you only begin to feel at home and meet cool people you’d like to spend a lot of time with once you only have a few months until you leave. I thought by staying here for two years instead of only one I’d avoid this problem, but no, it didn’t work. Maybe there needs to be a sense of urgency, or an end for you to realize what it is that you already have.

So what I have here is a wonderful life, a job that means something, colleagues and students who appreciate what I do, and an interesting place to live and explore. Unfortunately, it’s time for me to leave (or to be exact it will soon be time to leave) and I’m going to really miss it here. It’s easy to leave a place when you’re unhappy, but it’s certainly a whole different story when it’s good. But you can’t cling to the good times any longer than the bad because life just keeps moving and all you’ll get for fighting the current is water up your nose. I realize that even if I stayed, it wouldn’t be the same, and in fact it would somehow sour because I’m not supposed to stay. I’m supposed to move onto the next adventure. The problem is that I’m not sure what it’ll be. I’ll keep you all posted on that front.

I have 8 more weeks here to live, teach, learn, explore and enjoy. I hope they’re good. I’m sure they’ll be busy. I have a lot to look forward too, I need to just sit back and enjoy the ride and just drink it all to the last drop. Cheers!